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Monday, March 10, 2014

Unrequited Love by Shana Galen

Do you remember your first big crush? I do. I had the biggest crush on this boy in my middle school named David Wald. I thought he was so cute and funny and he had an awesome bass singing voice (we were in choir together).

Every time I saw David in the halls at school, my heart would pound and I'd feel all flustered and fluttery inside. I'd wave to him and he'd give me sort of a what's up with his head. You can tell I meant a lot to him. I wasn't even worth him making the effort to lift a hand and wave.

To complicate things, David had a best friend named Grant who had a huge crush on me. We were in this three-way love triangle where Grant loved me, I love David, and I don't know who David loved, but it wasn't me. David tried several times to "set me up" (if you can set someone up in middle school) with Grant, but I just wasn't going for it.

When I was writing my new release, Sapphires Are an Earl's Best Friend, I thought back to those junior high days on more than one occasion. The heroine in Sapphires is Lily Dawson. She's been in love with Andrew Booth-Payne, the Earl of Darlington, for years. But Andrew is in Love with Lily's friend Juliette. And, of course, Juliette falls in love with someone else.

I wanted to give Lily the happy ending I didn't get (until I met my next crush in high school!), but the path to true love never did run smooth. Andrew has to see Lily and then realize the woman he's wanted has been right there, under his nose, all along. Lily has to believe Andrew can love her and really get over his infatuation with Juliette. And since this is one of my books, there are villains and jewels and espionage involved as well.

Did you ever have a crush who didn't crush on you back? Were you ever the crush and you had to dash someone else's romantic dreams? One person who comments will win a copy of When You Give a Duke a Diamond and If You Give a Rake a Ruby (U.S. and Canada only).

Sapphires Are an Earl's Best Friend

Lily Dawson,
dubbed the Countess of Charm, has the gentlemen of the ton eating out
of her hand—all but one. As one of The Three Diamonds, Lily has borne
her share of scandal, but none so great as the scandal that forced her
into a the role of a courtesan. But there's more to Lily than a pretty
face. What better disguise for a secret agent than that of a courtesan?

Andrew Booth-Payne,
Earl of Darlington, is in love with Lily's best friend. He wants to
hate Lily for taking up with his father. When he discovers there's more
to her flirtation with his father than greed, he knows he must help her
uncover a traitor, even if that traitor is his own father.

27 comments:

Yup, I was the awkward girl who had crushes that never felt the same way. I wouldn't wish to ever be the person that had to dash someone else's feeling, those aren't ever fun times. But at least you grow out of those phases and I'm still kicking :) I so can't wait to read Sapphire's Are An Earls Best Friend!

I once had a big crush on the boy I grew up with. We were next door neighbours, went to the same schools and saw each other everyday. But I was too shy to tell him how I felt, fearing that it would harm our friendship. When, after a long time I finally moved on, seeing only a friend in him again, he told me he had a crush on me. But I could not say that about me anymore. Irony.at its best -,-* Sadly, that has been ten years ago and things are still awkward between us.

Oh I had a crush on my first older man when I was 16. I knew it couldn't go anywhere, but he was the first to treat me like a woman and not a girl. But it didn't stop my adolescent fantasies from going places they shouldn't...His name was Don and he was my friends much older brother. I never saw him again after that summer, he lived in California and I lived in Canada.

Oh, yes. Been there. Done that. Even found out many years later that there were guys who had crushes on me. Nothing clicked until I met my future husband at the age of 20. Sounds like a story we can all relate to!

Yes, ma'am but my Poppa did not like him. When he came to ask me to the ROTC Ball, my Poppa was conveniently cleaning his shotgun on the back porch. Since he couldn't date me, he started dating my best friend who was in love with another boy. So this guy and I sat in the hospital emergency room together one evening when my best friend ate too many pills and screamed out for the other boy after they'd pumped her stomach. I thought I loved him. He thought he loved her. She definitely loved another guy. My friend married someone else. The boy married a girl named Carol after he graduated from college. And I married Mr. B, but I still remember the emotions in that emergency room...

Oh, my goodness--middle school was so dramatic! "Who do you like" was the question on everyone's mind, though I was too shy to ask it or answer it aloud. I was a little less so in high school, but I was still a bundle of unrequited love. Maybe it was good for my eventual romance-writing career!

No need to enter me in the giveaway--I have (and loved!) both of these books. :)

I had many crushes and most of them did not like me back, at least not in that way. I had so many guy friends and a lot of the times I was secretly in like with them, but I always settled for just being the friend, it was better than nothing, right? In fact one of my best guy friends spent almost every Friday or Saturday night at my house our senior year of high school. We would watch movies or play video games. He had had it with girls and maybe I was safe. I did beg him to take me to my senior prom and I really had to beg. I paid (grandpa paid) for everything except the corsage he gave me. We had so much fun. When I look back on that time I think it was probably more fun to be the friend than to be dating and getting my heart broken. Also no need to enter me in the contest as I have these books already.

What a walk down memory lane! "Randy" was his name. I was in 7th grade and he was an older 9th grade boy, and yes we *fell in love* for all of 3-4 months! Thanks for the reminder of those sweet days. Best wishes with your great Regency series.

The neighbor boy had a crush on me but I thought of him as my brother. There were a few boys I had crushes on and then there were a few others that seemed to like me. All this happened until I was almost 16 at which time I met my future husband who was 18 and the new kid in town. He had traveled the world and I had never left my home town. That was the end of crushes lol.

So many crushes, so much heartache in my young life. I always seemed to find a way to make it worse, too. Lots of embarrassment to go along with the crushes. I can't wait to read Lily's story and enjoy getting to her happy ending!

Gosh, those are times I'd love to forget right? lol But they always say everything in life builds character so as bad as those unrequited loves were, I guess part of me has to happy that they turned out the way they did!